To Protect and Defend
by Qu33n 0f N3rds
Summary: After the discovery of a new planet called "Earth", Anakin, Ahsoka, and the other Jedi travel to another galaxy to defend the new planet from General Grievous and his invasion army. Set during the Clone Wars. (SEE THE REWRITE "Heart of the Blade")
1. Bigger Than the War

_So here's my first fanfic that I've posted. :P I don't own any of these characters or Star Wars. I hope you enjoy :D Reviews are appreciated. _

"It's too quiet," Ahsoka said. She frowned and tapped her fingers against the control panel by the view port in the Republic star destroyer.

The ship drifted slowly around the planet. For several days the Separatist fleets had been silent. Attacks had ceased except for defense of crucial areas. There had been no indication of a possible surrender. No messages from the enemy were sent and no useful transmitions that might tell what was going on were intercepted. The galaxy was experiencing a period of uneasy peace.

Ahsoka turned as the doors to the bridge opened.

"How was your recon mission, Master?" she asked.

"There is virtually no activity down there," Anakin replied, "There are several landed frigates and transports that look like they're in full working order, but they don't appear to be reloading fuel or supplies. They're just sitting there."

"I don't like it," Captain Rex said, coming up behind Anakin.

"So what are we going to do?" Ahsoka asked.

"There's no reason _to_ do anything. We report back to the Council and wait for further orders," Anakin said.

"Why are things so _quiet_?" Ahsoka said, exasperated, "It makes no sense!"

"Looks shady to me too, sir," Rex said.

"I don't know what they're planning, but there's nothing we can do about it right now," Anakin said. He walked over to the holocommunicator on the bridge and pressed a button. The images of Mace Windu and Master Yoda appeared.

"What to report have you?" Yoda asked.

"All is quiet for now, Masters," Anakin said, "There are several landed frigates and transports that aren't refueling or in for repair. I'm not sure what they're planning but at the moment all is quiet. "

"That's exactly how all the other reports have come in," Mace said, half to himself.

"That's odd," Anakin said, "What are your orders?"

"Return to Coruscant , you must," Yoda said, "Discoveries we have made. Very important they are."

"Get over here as quickly as you can, Skywalker," Mace said, "This is bigger than the war."

Ahsoka walked over to her master as the transmition ended.

"Alright, what are we doing," she said.

"We are to return to Coruscant immediately," Anakin said, "Apparently there's been a discovery that is more important than the war."

Ahsoka raised an eyebrow,

"Really? What could they have found that's more important than the war? Seems like riding the galaxy of those slime ball Separatists and their tinnies would be the most important thing right now."

"I'm not sure, Snips," Anakin said. He looked down at the clones in the command pits.

"Set the coordinates to Coruscant and prepare to make the jump to hyperspace," he said.

"Right away sir," came the answer.

"Rex, you and your men get some rest," Anakin said to the clone captain, "We might as well take advantage of the lull."

Rex nodded,

"Yes sir," he said, and then he exited the bridge.

"Are you going to follow your own orders?" Ahsoka asked as the stars out the view port blurred and the ship left forward into hyperspace, "Even with the stalemate you're still not sleeping much."

"I appreciate your concern, Snips, but even with the war at a standstill there are still numerous details to attend to. We have to be one step ahead of the enemy," Anakin said

Ahsoka rolled her eyes good-naturedly,

"Whatever you say, Master," she said, "I on the other hand am going to get some rest while I still can."

Anakin smiled slightly.

"Sweet dreams, Snips, but when the Separatists come knocking you'll be glad someone was up to think of a plan."

The entire Jedi Council and much of the Order had gathered in the briefing room at the Jedi Temple around the massive holoprojector that sat in the room. Jedi Masters stood at the controls, pushing buttons to organize the holograms to be show. Knights were standing on the outside circle, curious but quiet. The Padawans were on the far edges, conversing with each other and standing on elevated benches and stairs to get a better view. The occasional curious youngling poked their head through the door before being ushered away by their caretakers.

Mace Windu called the meeting to order and the chatter subsided.

"A few hours ago out scouts in the Outer Rim Territories spotted a large fleet of Separatist warships jumping into hyperspace beyond the Rishi Maze," he said. He pressed a button on the holoprojector and a hologram of six frigates and a flag ship appeared. The ships lined up in a tidy formation and then leapt forward into the unseen.

"We sent out a small ship to follow them and see why they were heading _away_ from the galaxy. What they found was this," he said. He pressed another button and a different hologram appeared, this time of a planet with white clouds swirling around in its atmosphere.

"Scans have shown that it is inhabited by countless life forms, but there is only one species that appears to be intelligent. The Separatist fleet seen leaving the Rishi Maze was spotted orbiting the planet's moon."

Another button was pressed that added a moon and the seven Separatist ships to the space beyond the planet. Ahsoka looked at the planet with a look of awe on her face,

"A new planet? Are there people on it? What's it like?" she asked.

"We don't know yet as our scouts only went around the planet. They didn't actually land," Mace said, "The people on the planet appear to be human though. The climate is very varied. In some areas there is forest, in other ocean or desert. There are plains, mountains, tundra, and many other climates and habitats. Often there's more than one environment per land mass. "

Anakin studied the hologram of the Separatist fleet.

"Those look like Grievous's ships," he said, "I bet he's leading this expedition."

"But what would General Grievous be doing all the way out there?"

Obi-Wan stepped forward from the crowd and up to the holoprojector.

"Unless there's some marvelous resource too good to pass up it seems like it would be inconvenient for Grievous to send his ships all the way to another galaxy."

"He might be looking to build an emergency base there, that way if the war really takes a turn for the worst at least that planet will be able to provide a fail-safe," Ki-Adi Mundi said.

"Grievous is too confident for that. I'm sure the Separatists are positive they will not need such a distant planet as a back up," Plo Koon said.

"This could be an attempt to distract us," Aayla Secura said, "Perhaps they are trying to get leverage by threatening innocents."

"It could be both," Obi-Wan said, "While Grievous is too proud, Dooku is not. Perhaps the plan is to capture the planet, build a base, and threaten the people there."

"If so, it's a clever plan," Luminara Unduli said, "We can't very well stand by and do nothing if Grievous plans to invade."

"It would be all too easy for some of our defenses to slip," Anakin agreed.

"If this is the case, we must proceed with caution," Mace said.

"Do we have a plan?" Kit Fisto asked.

Mace nodded,

"Because this is a new planet, we'll want to explore it some, but at the same time we'll need to keep and eye out for Grievous. We'll take two fleets of cruisers to orbit the planet. If Grievous attacks we'll hold him off. I will command one fleet and Master Kenobi will command the other. We will bring along several teams of Jedi who will go to the planet's surface in several spots to watch for droid activity. They will also be learning more about the people there," he said.

"Go with you I will, Master Windu," Yoda said, "Want to see this new planet for myself, I do."

"Who will go to the planet's surface then?" Aayla asked.

"You and Master Unduli will be watching this land mass here," Mace said, pointing to a large land mass that bulged at the top to form a little nub and then narrowed out at the bottom, "Half of it is desert, the other half, plains and sparse forest. It's a good spot to land troops if that's the idea Grievous has.

"Masters Plo and Fisto, you will be taking care of this landmass," he said, pointing to a land mass that was similar to the first, only narrower at the bottom and smaller, "Half is jungle and half is mountains and dry plains. Skywalker, you and Padawan Tano will be going to the land mass above it," he pointed to a thick land mass with a tail that dipped down and connected with the land mass Master Plo and Fisto would be watching, "It is a mix of plains, forest, desert, mountains, and tundra."

Ahsoka hardly heard him after that, she was too excited.

_A whole new planet! _She thought _and I get to go right down to the surface!_

"I advise all of you to be discreet, quiet, and cautious. We know hardly anything about this planet and its people. Don't do anything to upset them," Mace said, "Now I suggest all of you get some rest and prepare to leave tomorrow."

As the Jedi dispersed, Ahsoka turned to her master,

"I'm not going to lie to you, Master; I'm pretty excited right now."

"Well it's an exciting thing, Snips," Anakin said.

"Sleep is going to be hard to come by tonight," she said.

He laughed,

"You won't be alone. Some of the other Padawans looked like they were going to explode."

"What do you think it will be like?" she asked.

"I don't know, but from the way Master Windu described it, the people there have no experience with intelligent species other than themselves. That could make things difficult," he said.

"I just hope they realize we're not here to hurt them," she said.

"If Grievous strikes before we get there, that could be hard," he said.


	2. Local Encounters

Ahsoka ran out onto the bridge and stopped beside Obi-Wan. Out the window the view was nothing more that the swirling blue and purple of hyperspace, but it wouldn't stay like that for much longer.

"Are we almost there?" she asked.

Obi-Wan nodded,

"Just about. I take it that you want to see the planet when we come out of hyperspace," he said.

"Of course," she said, "Isn't that why you're up here?"

He smiled,

"Fair enough. Where's Anakin?" he asked.

"Down in the hangar. He said if you've seen one dust ball you've seen them all," she said.

"Well you'll see it on your way down to the surface anyway," he said, "I understand why he's not in a rush to see it.

"Coming out of hyperspace, sir," one of the clones said.

The stars blurred back into view and there before them was the planet. It was a swirl of blue and white with patches of green and brown here and there. Ahsoka looked at it for a moment and shrugged,

"Huh, I guess my master was right, it really isn't all that exciting," she said.

Obi-Wan chuckled,

"You'd better get back to the hangar. As soon as we get the all clear you'll be heading out."

"See you later, Master Kenobi," Ahsoka said, and then she turned and left the bridge. She made her way back down to the hangar where Anakin and Captain Rex were waiting outside a Republic shuttle. She walked up the gang plank after them and the door closed.

"So, Snips, was it worth making the trip up there?" Anakin asked, sitting down in the cockpit and guiding the ship off the hangar deck and into the air.

"Well…I don't know," Ahsoka said.

Anakin grinned,

"That's what I thought."

Soon they were given the all clear and the ship sped out of the hangar. Anakin maneuvered it around the planet, following the given coordinates to their assigned land mass. Soon they were flying through the clouds to a spot about in the middle of the land mass. Below on the ground it was dark. Ahsoka could just see the lights of a city in the distance.

"We picked a good time. It's night, everyone will be sleeping," Anakin said, "Let's head down into those trees."

"Do you think we're too close to that city in the distance?" she asked.

"We're here to protect the city so it makes sense to stay close to where a lot of them are living," he said.

Slowly the gunship sank down into the tall trees and settled against the earth. The ship made soft powering down noises as Anakin shut down the engines. Ahsoka went to the door and pushed a button. It slid open and the gang plank lowered to the ground. She went outside and breathed in the fresh air and strong scent of rain. She shivered a little when she stepped out from under the belly of the shit and cold water droplets hit her bare skin. She backed towards the gang plank again.

"We should probably go to sleep so we can adjust to the time zones here. I don't suggest you spend the night out here," Anakin said, leaning against the door frame farther up the plank.

Ahsoka sighed,

"But we just got here…"

"Think about it, Snips. If you go out now you won't be able to see anything anyway, and may I remind you that we don't know what kind of creatures are out there. There might be a few who would rather enjoy Togruta girl meat," he said.

She rolled her eyes,

"Come on, they'd be no match for me," she said.

"I'll take first watch," Rex said, "You're next Dusty."

He turned to face a clone with a blue stripe above the eye slit in his helmet. Dusty nodded,

"Yes sir," he said.

"I'll keep you company, Rex. No way am I getting any sleep tonight," Ahsoka said.

While everyone settle down for the night, Ahsoka sat down on the ground under the ship. She picked up some fallen vegetation. She found a few tan colored, needle-like things and small spherical things that were a bit prickly. She hoped it wasn't something from a poisonous plant.

She put the things back down on the ground and reached out into the forest with her senses. She listened to the quiet murmur of creatures in the trees. We before she knew it she was drifting off, lulled to sleep by the drumming of rain and the sweet scent of the wet grass.

"Were you out here all night, Ahsoka?"

"Mm?"

Ahsoka lifted her head up and saw Anakin crouched next to her. She sat up and rubbed her eyes.

"I guess so," she muttered.

"We're heading out soon. You'll be hiking around the forest so you should get something to eat. The terrain looks pretty rough," he said.

Rex tossed her some rations and she stood up. She bit into the smooth white stick, chewed, and swallowed before addressing her master again.

"And what exactly will you be doing?" she asked.

"I'm going to head towards that city we saw last night. We're supposed to learn more about these people so I figure this is a good place to start," he said.

"Alone? Do you think that's a good idea?" she asked.

"The forest is probably more dangerous that the city," he said, "And besides, a bunch of men in white armor and carrying guns will attract too much negative attention. Don't worry, I'll be fine."

"Alright, but if you get into trouble you know where to find me," Ahsoka said.

"Come on, Snips, where do I ever get into trouble?" he asked, smiling.

Ahsoka raised a skeptical eyebrow and opened her mouth to speak but Anakin stopped her.

"Never mind, don't answer that," he said.

She rolled her eyes,

"Good luck, Master," she said, "Come on boys; let's see what's out there. Mellow, you stay and guard the ship. Rex, you and the others come with me."

She watched for a moment as Anakin put up the hood of his brown cloak and disappeared into the forest. Then she turned and walked after her troops.

She ran a hand down the trunk of a tree and broke off a small piece of the brittle bark. She looked at it for a moment before tucking it into a backpack she'd slung over her shoulders.

"If you boys see anything interesting, speak up," she said, "Don't shoot anything until we know if it's dangerous or not."

They hiked upward along the hill for a while, stopping to look at new plants and watch the many feathered creatures flit through the trees, singing their songs. The rain had stopped and the air smelled fresh and clean. They reached the top of the hill and marveled at the view of the tall, black hills in the distance. As they trekked down the other side of the hill, one of the clones spotted something.

"What is it, Red?" Rex asked.

"Movement in the trees just over there," Red said.

He pointed and Ahsoka followed his finger to a few dusty brown creatures with large ears and skinny legs. They were calmly chewing on the plants nearby. One of them looked at the group with its large, oval shaped ears pricked before settling down again to eat.

"Herbivores, nothing to worry about," Ahsoka said.

They continued walking. When they reached the bottom of the hill they started walking up a slightly flatter hill than before.

"Do you think we'll run into any people?" Rex asked as they weaved their way though trees.

"It's possible," Ahsoka said, "You saw those lights last night. There's definitely a city nearby."

"But why would anyone live out here so far from it?" the team medic, a clone called Comet, asked.

"It's not that unusual," Rex said, "Some people feel the need to get away from the noise."

"Or they might just like the view," Ahsoka said.

They continued walking through the trees until they came to a small clearing. Ahsoka stopped to look at a small, wet flower trying to free it's self from the crunchy needle-like things that littered the ground. As soon as she stood back up she heard the soft sound of a twig snapping. She thought it was one of the clones moving around, but then she felt a presence that was unfamiliar to her. They were being watched.

_Crack!_

Dusty gave a startled yell. Rex rushed over to see what was wrong.

"Dusty, are you ok?" he asked.

The clone rubbed his back in-between his shoulder blades.

"I'm fine, Captain, but…something hit me," he said.

"What do you think that loud bang was?" Comet asked.

Rex knelt down to the ground behind Dusty and stood up with something in his hand.

"Commander, I think you should see this."

Ahsoka walked over and took the thing in Rex's hand. She held it up to the light.

"It's a…flattened piece of metal," she said, "It kind of looks like it was a cylinder at one point but it's been squished flat."

"There's a dent in Dusty's armor," Red said, pointing to his comrade's shoulder.

"What the hell was that?" Dusty asked, sounding a little panicked.

Ahsoka stopped to listen to the forest around her. She pointed into the trees,

"There. We aren't alone," she said. She saw a flash of movement, like something-or someone- had peeked around the tree and then retreated.

"Hey!" she called, "Do you want to come out and apologize to Dusty here?"

The face of a young boy with tousled blonde hair appeared. His eyes were wide with a mixture of fear and wonder. He was clutching a small gun in his hands.

"Wh-what are you? Where did you come from?" he said in a shaky voice.

"We're the good guys, so please lower your weapon," Ahsoka said.

The boy shrank back and raised his gun to his shoulder. Ahsoka's hand shot out and she used the force to wrench the gun free of his grasp and throw it into the leaf litter next to a tree. The boy gave a loud yelp of surprise.

"H-how did you do that!"

"Look, we're not going to hurt you-" Ahsoka started.

"That's what they always say, but they never mean it!" the boy said, taking a step closer to the group, "Back off tentacle head!"

"Tentacle head?" Ahsoka gave him an indignant glare. Behind her one of the clones snickered.

"Oh, I'd forgotten that this planet hadn't seen any other intelligent life," Ahsoka said, "Did I mention that we aren't going to hurt you?"

"Did Imention that they always say that?" the boy said.

"Who are 'they'?" Ahsoka asked.

"Aliens like _you!_" the boy said.

"We aren't here to invade your planet if that's what you're thinking," she said, "Are you saying that aliens have visited before?"

The boy hesitated,

"Well…no," he said quietly.

"Then how do you know what aliens are like?" she asked.

No answer.

"That's what I thought," she said.

The boy looked at her and then at the clones,

"Are they tentacle heads too?" he asked timidly.

"No," Ahsoka said. She looked behind her, "Rex? Do you mind?"

She nodded her head towards the boy.

"Um, right," Rex said. He removed his helmet and looked at the boy,

"Don't worry; I'm normal," he said, "Nice to meet you."

The boy looked at Rex for a moment. Fear seemed to have left him and curiosity took its place. Then he frowned slightly,

"Wait a minute…you're human! How-?" he started. He looked pretty confused, "And how do you guys know English?"

"I was just wondering how you knew Galactic Standard," Ahsoka said, "That's weird."

"Should we tell General Skywalker?" Rex asked.

"That's probably a good idea," Ahsoka said.

"_General?_ This is a military operation! This _is _an invasion!" the boy said, pointing and accusing finger at Ahsoka.

"_No." _Ahsoka said, "We're not invading your planet, we're protecting it from the people who really _are _invading."

"Just hear us out, kid," Rex said, "We're not the bad guys here. What's your name?"

"I'm Neko," the boy said.

"I'm Captain Rex, this is Red, Comet, Jacker, Peak, and Dusty," Rex said.

"I'm Ahsoka Tano," Ahsoka said, "Nice to meet you, Neko."

Satisfied that the boy wasn't going to attack again if she turned her attention away from him for a moment, she turned on her comlink and signaled Anakin.

"Hey Master, how's it going?" she asked.

"I'm walking on a road that I think leads to town. The people here have some rather primitive technology. The drive things that look like land speeders, but they need wheels to hold them up. They're also a good deal slower," Anakin's reply came.

"Cars," Neko whispered under his breath.

Ahsoka gave him a look before looking back to her comlink,

"Weird. Well, the boys and I ran into a local in the forest just now. It's a boy who says his name is Neko. Guess what he speaks; Galactic Standard. He called it 'English', so I think we have reason to believe that maybe other people speak it too," she said.

"Really? Well that simplifies things," Anakin said, "Try to make friends with the local, learn more about how they live here."

"Will do, Master," Ahsoka said.

As the connection broke Ahsoka looked back at Neko who was asking Rex questions.

"Where are you guys from?" he asked.

"Well originally we're from an oceanic planet called Kamino," Rex said.

"It's bloody freezing down there," Red muttered.

"Hush, rookie," Rex said.

"But there are a lot more planets in our galaxy than Kamino," Comet added.

Ahsoka looked at Neko,

"How old are you?"

"Ten," he answered.

"Where do you live?" she asked.

"Just down that way, not far from here," he said, pointing.

"Where did you get the gun?" she asked.

"Under the shed by out house. My cousin taught me how to use it a few months ago. The news said that there were aliens around so I figured if I was going to go exploring I'd better be safe," he said.

"Let me see your gun, kid," Rex said.

Neko picked up the weapon from where Ahsoka had thrown it and brought it over to Rex. Then he paused,

"Wait a second, you aren't going to shoot me are you?" he said.

"Now why would I shoot you?" Rex asked, "You seem like a nice kid."

Neko shrugged and handed it over. Rex examined it for a moment, making sure it was pointed away from everyone. After a moment he asked,

"What does this thing fire?"

"These," Neko said, producing a few metal cylinders from his pocket, "They're called bullets."

Rex picked one of the bullets form Neko's hand and looked at it,

"Commander, can I see what it was that hit Dusty?" he asked.

Ahsoka handed Rex the squashed metal disk and Rex held the two objects up together.

"_Whoa_!" Neko said, looking at the squished disk, "That's a _bullet! _How did _that _happen?"

"You shot me remember?" Dusty said.

"Oh, yeah, sorry," Neko said, "But I mean what on Earth are you wearing that totally flattened this bullet?"

"Just armor," Dusty said.

Neko knocked on the armor of the clone closest to him,

"Jeez, hard stuff," he said.

Rex chuckled and handed Neko back his gun. He lifted his helmet off the ground and put it back on.

Ahsoka was thinking about what Neko had said about the news reporting aliens.

"Neko, what did you mean when you said that you heard there were aliens around? How did you hear about that?" she asked.

"The International Space Station was orbiting around Earth and it passed the Moon. The astronauts on board took some pictures and saw these weird ships orbiting it. They sent those pictures down to Earth and the news station released them to the public," Neko said.

Ahsoka and Rex exchanged glances,

"Can we see those pictures?" Ahsoka asked.

"Sure, my dad probably hasn't thrown away yesterday's paper yet," Neko said, "Follow me."

He turned and ran off into the trees. Ahsoka waved her hand forward and she and the clones followed Neko into the forest. Soon Ahsoka could see a nice wooden house through the trees. A ways behind it was a shed. In front of the house was a gravel road that led down the hill.

"Wait here," Neko said, "My parents will freak out if they see you."

He ran out into the open and stashed the gun under the shed. Ahsoka motioned for the clones to get down and they hid behind what trees were thick enough.

"Neko!"

Ahsoka jumped when a girl with dirty-blonde hair stormed out of the house. She looked a few years older than Neko.

_Must be his sister, _Ahsoka thought.

"Why didn't you tell me you were going out? Mom and Dad have already chewed me out for loosing track of you!" the girl said.

"Myrna…" Neko started, giving a little sigh.

"Mom almost had a heart attack! She's freaked out as it is with all this alien talk," Myrna continued.

"I was _bored!" _Neko said, "I took the gun for protection!"

"The _gun!_" Myrna shrieked, "You're not even supposed to know how to use that thing!"

Neko sighed in frustration,

"Well I'm back now! Do you know where yesterday's paper is?"

The question threw Myrna off her rant and she gave him a curious look,

"It's on the table still. Why?" she asked.

"I need it," Neko said, "Thanks."

He turned and scampered into the house.

"Oh no, I'm not letting you sneak out again!" she said, walking after him. There was silence by the house for a while and the clones fidgeted a little in boredom. Ahsoka motioned for them to be quiet. There was no telling when they would return or if someone else would suddenly appear. Finally Neko came back with a jumble of thin gray paper. He opened his mouth like he was about to call them out of the trees but was interrupted by the slam of the screen door and the arrival of his sister. He sighed and closed his eyes a little before turning around to face Myrna.

"Um, do you mind leaving?" he asked.

Myrna snorted,

"I'm not that stupid, _Nicholas_," she said, "I'm not letting you out of my sight again."

Neko tensed and glared at her,

"Don't call me that! You know I hate that name!" he said.

"Well too bad, it's your name, so I feel I'm entitled to call you by it," she said.

He clenched his hands around the papers tighter,

"Would you just leave?" he said, frustrated.

"No chance," she said.

"I won't sneak off! I promise!" he said.

"If I've learned anything from being around you it's that you usually don't mean what you say," she said.

He glared at her and his eyes darted back to the forest behind him.

"Alright, but if you stay I'm going to need you to promise me something," he said.

She gave him a skeptical look,

"Promise what?"

"That you won't scream, call the cops, or otherwise freak out," he said.

"Neko, if you've caught another frog I'm not that bothered by-," she started but Neko cut her off.

"Promise."

"Neko-,"

"Promise," he insisted.

"Alright, fine, whatever," she said.

Neko turned to face the forest again,

"Guys, I have the pictures," he said. He shook the pages and one of them fluttered down to the ground and rested in the fresh mud.

"Oops," he said. He bent down and picked up the page.

Ahsoka motioned the troops forward and slowly the emerged from the tall trees and stopped at the edge of the tree line. Myrna's expression changed to one of horror and disbelief. She opened her mouth to scream but Neko glared at her and said,

"You promised."

She grudgingly closed her mouth and started taking deep breaths to calm herself down.

"Let's see what you've got, kid," Ahsoka said. She walked over next to him and picked up the jumble of papers. She smoothed the crinkled pages and looked at a brown stain in the corner than had warped the paper's smooth texture into something rougher and bumpier. She looked at Myrna who looked like she was about to have a panic attack. She sighed and rolled her eyes,

"Would you calm down please? We're not here to hurt you," she said. Myrna took a breath like she was about to say something but Ahsoka held out her hand to stop her,

"Yes I'm aware that I'm orange and I have horns on my head, now if you'll kindly step aside and let us see how exactly you guys knew we were coming."

She turned back to the paper and looked at a dark photo of a small gray moon. At first she didn't see what was so special about the picture, but then she noticed the distinct shape of a Separatist frigate. The ship loomed ominously in the back ground, half hidden by the moon. She could just make up the tail end of another frigate behind the first one. She snorted,

"Not so sneaky are you?" she said. Rex came up behind her and she handed him the papers.

"I guess this planet's residents aren't as ignorant at Grievous thinks," she said.

Neko peeked up curiously at the paper,

"Are those your ships?" he asked.

"No way," Ahsoka said, "Those ships belong to the Separatists and their clankers. They're the whole reason we're here at all. We're here to make sure they don't invade the planet."

Suddenly a large shriek came from inside the house. The clones jumped to attention, their guns held at the ready. Ahsoka instinctively drew her lightsaber and ignited it. Neko jumped back and Myrna squeaked. She looked about ready to pass out.

"Myrna, why don't you go see what that was," Neko said.

Myrna nodded numbly and ran into the house.

"You ok, Mom?" she called.

Ahsoka and the troops relaxed and Ahsoka sheathed her saber. Neko's eyes widened,

"Whoa!" he said, "That was _awesome_! What was that?"

"A lightsaber. It can cut through anything our galaxy can dish out. Well, anything except maybe Zillo Beast scales, but you'll have to ask my master about that one if you want the full story," she said.

Myrna came back out of the house and eyed Ahsoka and the troops warily before addressing Neko,

"They're showing more alien ships on the news. Mom is freaking out. She thinks the world is ending so she wants to go to church or something," she said.

An engine starting up was heard from the front of the house.

"Alien ships on TV? Awesome! I want to see!" Neko said. He looked at Ahsoka and the troops,

"Come on."

Myrna stood in front of him and held her arms out,

"Oh no, they are _not _coming inside the house," she said.

"Please Myrna? They won't hurt anyone or anything I promise! And this might be important, right guys?" Neko looked at Ahsoka.

"Part of our assignment was to learn about your lives and culture. I'm sure Master Yoda and Master Windu would like to know how you knew we were coming," she said, "I promise we aren't going to hurt you."

Myrna bit her tongue and looked from Ahsoka to Neko and back again. Finally she gave in with a sigh,

"Alright, fine, but if you do anything I swear there's a frying pan in the kitchen with your name on it," she said.

Neko smiled and hugged his sister,

"Thanks, Myrna," he said. Then he ran inside and waved for Ahsoka and the troops to follow. They walked inside and wiped the mud from their boots on the mat by the door. The house wasn't horribly messy but it wasn't un-naturally clean either. It was cozy and painted with warm colors and rustic furniture. Neko led them into the living room close to the front door and flopped down onto a couch in front of a large screen. It was an imagine of a man and a woman talking about the latest developments in space.

"The news stations know everything," Neko said, "They'll tell you what you need to know." He turned up the volume on the TV.

"Several new alien vessels entered the solar system yesterday. Smaller ships were seen leaving the ships and heading towards Earth. No sightings of alien activity have been reported on the surface yet but civilians are asked to report any unusual activity to the police. Police units will be patrolling the streets regularly to watch for possible alien activity," the woman said. They showed pictures and video tapes of Republic cruisers and shuttles flying around in space.

"I doubt _this _will be received well," Ahsoka muttered.

"So then _those _are you ships," Neko said, "Awesome. Where's your ship now?"

"Back in the woods on the other side of a small ravine," Ahsoka said.

Neko's eyes lit up,

"I know that gully, I hike it all the time!" he said.

"_What?_" Myrna said, "Neko I thought Mom told you to stay away from that!"

"Oh, sorry," Neko said, though he seemed rather unconcerned by Myrna's accusations. He looked back at Ahsoka, "Can I see your ship?"

"_No way_," Myrna said.

"Don't make me beg again Myrna," Neko said, "And since when do we get to see a real life alien _space ship_?"

"Technically it's a shuttle, not a-," Red started by Comet cut him off,

"Do you really think that matters right now?"

"I'm just saying," Red said.

"Quiet you two," Rex said.

"_Please _Myrna?" Neko begged.

"Ok! Fine! But I'm coming with you to make sure you're head isn't blasted off or something," Myrna said.

"Don't worry, ma'am. We won't be blasting anyone's heads off today," Rex said.

The group left the house and began the hike through the trees to the ravine that cut through the landscape. They climbed down the side, occasionally slipping in the mud that coated the side of the ravine.

"Oh yuck! I would never go out hiking on a day like this," Neko said after sliding a ways down the ravine and getting mud all over his shoes and pants.

Finally they made it to the bottom and up the other side. They hiked downhill through the forest until they came to where the shuttle was parked. Mellow was sitting on the gangplank fiddling with his gun. He stood at attention when he heard the others coming. He was a little surprised by Neko and Myrna's appearance.

"Um, sir, what's this?" he asked.

"Locals," Rex said.

Neko immediately started exploring the perimeter of the ship. Mellow went after him, trying to convince him not to touch anything.

"Seriously kid, be careful. Even I don't know what'll happen if you start fiddling with knobs or valves. If this ship explodes we have no way off this rock," he said.

"Come on, how could I make the ship explode?" Neko asked.

"I could think of several ways," Mellow muttered as the kid went running off to another part of the ship.

Ahsoka couldn't help but smile. Then she heard a beeping coming from her wrist and she looked down at her comlink. Neko came running over and looked at her wrist,

"What's that?" he asked.

"A comlink," Ahsoka said.

"Why is it beeping?" he asked.

"We'll find out," she said. She pressed a button and Anakin's voice came through.

"Ahsoka?"

"Hey, Master. What is it?" Ahsoka asked.

"I've run into a bit of trouble," he said, "And if this ends poorly I'm probably going to need some help."

Ahsoka rolled her eyes,

"I should've guessed. Droids?"

"No," Anakin said. She heard shouting in the back ground, "Locals."

"The police!" Neko suddenly said.

"Who's that?" Anakin asked.

"A local we ran into," Ahsoka said, "What's going on?"

"Well right now they're chasing me down a walkway," Anakin said.

"Hang in there, Master," Ahsoka said, "Maybe you can convince them that you're just a normal civilian with a strange taste in clothing."

"I highly doubt that will work," he said.

"Find a good spot for us to land then and signal us when you're ready to be picked up," she said.

"I'll try. There aren't many open spaces you could land," he said.

Then a loud bang came from the other end of the com and Anakin grunted. There was a loud rustling noise like he'd fallen into a bush or something. Then there silence.

"Master!" Ahsoka cried. Her eyes bugged.

"Please tell me he's wearing some of that armor stuff too," Neko said.

Then there came more rustling and shouts and Anakin's voice came through again,

"I'm fine, they missed," he said.

Ahsoka breathed a sigh of relief.

"They've got some kind of gun but I don't think it fires lasers," Anakin said.

"They don't," Ahsoka said, "They fire metal cylinders called bullets at high speeds."

"Don't get hit by one!" Neko interjected.

"Thank you for stating the obvious," Anakin said sarcastically.

"Be careful, Master," Ahsoka said, then the connection broke. Rex began ushering the troops back into the shuttle,

"Come on you slackers, move it!" he said.

Neko looked at Ahsoka,

"Can I come with you guys?"

"That's it, I'm putting my foot down," Myrna said, "No way."

"I'm going to have to agree with your sister on this one. It's best if you stay here," Ahsoka said.

Neko frowned,

"But-,"

"Hey, you said that the news stations know everything, right?" Ahsoka said, "So you'll probably see us on that screen of yours if we cause enough trouble."

"Well, ok," Neko said reluctantly, "Good luck."

Ahsoka nodded,

"Thanks. Here, take this comlink incase anything comes up. Just press the button to talk."

She tossed him a comlink and he reached up and caught it. He looked at it and smiled,

"Thanks!" he said.

Ahsoka smiled and then she walked up into the shuttle and the hatch closed. The engines roared to life and the ship rose up into the sky.


	3. Local Trouble

Anakin made a sharp turn into an alleyway and crouched behind a rusty blue dumpster. The police men ran past him a few moments later, the one in charge barking orders at the others to split up. When the last policeman passed the alley, Anakin stood up and turned to run further down the dark passage way. He began planning out his escape route with full knowledge that the police wouldn't stay off his trail for long.

As he passed a doorway where some boxes and milk crates were stacked, his cloak caught on one the plastic edges. The rickety pile was upset and it fell down to the pavement below with a crash. Anakin kicked a box away to free himself and kept running. He could hear a policeman farther down the alley shouting that he "found the suspect." Soon the other policemen had found their way back to the alley. They formed a small group that resembled a pack of dogs.

Anakin passed another dumpster and used the force to bring it down on its side to block the way. It wasn't wide enough to block the alley entirely but it had surprised the policemen enough to delay them for a few seconds more. By now the police in pursuit had called for backup and footsteps could be heard in the alley around the corner. Anakin cursed silently. When he came to the cross road where the alleyway met with another alley behind a large building, he turned right. He slipped into the other alley just as more police arrived to cut him off.

The end of the alley was near and along it was a large concrete lot surrounded by a tall metal fence. Anakin figured he could jump it, but he would probably have to stop briefly to do so. He heard another bang and ducked to the side. A bullet flew past him and tore through one of the wires in the chain link fence. No, stopping was not a good idea.

He took a right and kept running along the fence, trying to come up with some sort of plan that would lose his pursuers. Then the fence ended and took a turn along a sidewalk. There was a street directly in front of him. The traffic was slow and spread thin.

Without hesitation, Anakin ran right into the road, jumping out of the ways of cars when they came and ignoring the angry honks that came from the drivers as he did. When he reached the other side he slipped between two parked cars and kept running along the sidewalk. He heard another bang and ducked behind a car. The bullet punched a hole in the car's window and broken glass rained down on the pavement. He kept running.

The policemen followed him across the street where there was a large gap between cars and soon they were behind him again.

_These guys just won't take a hit will they? _Anakin thought.

After a few seconds of running and watching the traffic he veered off again into the street. This time there were no cars in the way and Anakin made it to the other side without getting honked at. The policemen weren't so lucky. Just then a few cars rushed past, blocking their route. Anakin smirked and looked back at the fence. There was an opening on the other side that he could run out of and beyond that more buildings and alleyways. Losing the police would be easy.

He stopped by the fence and did a high force jump over the top of the wires. His boots made a soft thud against the pavement as he landed. Then he stood up straight again and started running. There was a problem though. Another unit of policemen had showed up and they were running to block off the exit. The gap was too wide for him to cover in time to get past the unit. He frowned and turned around the jump the fence again. In the time it had taken him to jump the fence the first police unit that had been chasing him had crossed the street. One of the officers was pointing a gun at him.

As the gun fired, Anakin jumped to the side and avoided the bullet. The second police unit rushed into the lot. Another shot was fired and Anakin dropped to the ground, avoiding that bullet as well. He started to get to his feet but before he knew it the second police unit had cleared the gap and was right in front of him. The one in the lead pointed his gun at him,

"Don't move," he said.

Anakin paused a moment, taking the opportunity to catch his breath. Then he slowly started to get to his feet.

"Afternoon, officers," he said, "I don't suppose you'd be kind enough to let me go."

"Sorry, sir, you're to be taken to the station immediately for questioning," one of the officers said.

"Would you be willing to believe that I'm just a normal civilian with a strange taste in clothing?" he asked.

The officers shook their heads.

He shrugged,

"Didn't think so, but it was worth a shot," he said. Then he jumped up into the air and did a flip over the officer's heads. He landed behind them and started running again. He was getting a little sick of all this running but surrender was not his style.

Unfortunately his escape was short lived. The first police unit had come through the gate into the fenced off lot. He had finally been trapped. The police in front of him aimed their weapons at him. The lead officer from the second unit came around to meet the lead officer from the first,

"I'm glad that you guys showed up. I was afraid we were going to have to start the chase all over again," he said.

"So did we," the other officer said. He looked at Anakin, "We're-."

"Taking me to the station for questioning, I know," Anakin said, "Your buddy mentioned as much."

An officer came forward and handcuffed Anakin's hands behind his back. He wasn't used to the way these cuffs twisted his wrists together and he struggled a little against the cold metal. The officers clearly didn't like that and they gave him a shove forward towards the exit.

A black and white car with flashing blue and red lights on the roof pulled up. One of the officers opened the door to the backseat and the other officers pushed Anakin inside.

The drive was slow and boring for Anakin and especially nerve-wracking for the officers. No doubt they had heard that they were transporting a "maniac who ran right across an open road. Oh, and did we mention that he's a suspect alien?"

The station was a simple building with several cars outside. A flag was flying on a pole out front. A few officers were waiting outside. They escorted Anakin inside the station to a small room with a one-way window taking up most of one wall. They confiscated his lightsaber and his comlink and left. He sat down in one of the chairs facing the door. After a few minutes of waiting an older man walked through the door. He gave Anakin a cautious, yet curious, look.

"I suppose you're our 'alien' then?" he asked.

"I don't know, that kind of depends on your point of view," Anakin said.

"I'm Officer Kevin Black, Chief of Police for River City," the man said, "I'm assuming aliens have names."

"Doesn't it make sense that I would have a name?" Anakin asked.

"Of course, my apologies," Officer Black said, "I don't suppose you'd tell me."

"I'm Anakin Skywalker, Jedi Knight and General for the Grand Army of the Republic," Anakin replied, "I understand if none of that makes sense to you."

"You're correct about that, but I do understand one part," Officer Black said, "If you're a General, where are your troops? If I understand correctly this is an invasion."

"Why does everyone think that?" Anakin muttered, "No, we're not here to invade. I only came with seven men and my Padawan. We're more interested in learning about your planet and the people who live here, not in taking this planet for ourselves."

"But the ships orbiting Earth are yours though, correct?" Officer Black said.

"Half of them. The dark gray and blue ships orbiting your moon do not belong to us. The light gray and red ones do," Anakin said.

"So if the ships orbiting the Moon do not belong to you, who do they belong to?" Officer Black asked, "Allies of yours?"

Anakin looked at him like he was crazy,

"The Separatists? Our Allies? No, not at all. They are the ones who _are _interesting in invading this planet. We're also here to stop them," he said.

"So basically you'll be waging war here on our planet," Officer Black said.

"I wish we didn't have to, but your people can't stand up to this threat by themselves. If I know anything about Grievous, he'll slaughter anyone who opposes him," Anakin said.

"And suppose you're lying to win my trust," Officer Black said.

"I assure you there's no trickery here," Anakin said, "If you don't believe me I could call my men here. They'll tell you the same story."

"That won't be necessary," Officer Black said, "I'm not so easily tricked."

"I already _told _you I'm not-," Anakin started but the Police Chief wasn't listening.

"Can I expect an attack as part of a rescue mission?" he asked.

"Possibly, but unless you let me go, I'll probably find me own way out," Anakin said.

"Unlikely. There are officers everywhere in this station, I doubt you could get past all of them," Officer Black said, "Not only that but you specifically will be under special watch due to the nature of your…visit."

"Your men attacked first, don't think I intended for this to happen," Anakin said, "And you would be surprised by how many 'inescapable' places I've gotten out of."

Office Black gave him a suspicious and slightly annoyed look before asking the next question.

"Two items were confiscated from you, a metal tube of sorts and a flat disk that appears to be some sort of electronic. Care to explain what those are?" he asked.

"The metal tube in question is called a lightsaber," Anakin answered, "I don't think any of your men would be stupid enough to play with 'alien technology' but I'd remind them not to anyway. An inexperienced user can easily ignite the blade by accident and cut his own arm off. Take my word for it, dismemberment by lightsaber is not a pleasant experience."

Officer Black's eyes widened just a touch at the thought but continued on with the questioning.

"What about the other item?"

"That is called a 'comlink.' It's a communication device and totally harmless," Anakin said.

"Who does it contact?" Officer Black asked.

"My Padawan, Ahsoka, and Captain Rex," Anakin said.

"I'm not sure I understand what a 'Padawan' is," Officer Black said.

"She's my apprentice and a Commander in the Republic's army," Anakin said.

"I see. So let's get this particular question out of the way," Officer Black said, "What are you? You appear to be human but no human from here can jump eight foot tall fences and dodge bullets at such close range."

"No human from here is a Jedi," Anakin said.

Officer Black raised an eyebrow, contemplating whether or not to press further with the investigation. In the end he decided to leave these questions for later and go deal with the reporters who where hounding the front door.

"That will be all for now," he said. He turned towards the door. As he put his hand on the knob, he turned his head to looked back at Anakin,

"Oh, and while you're here, try not to make things harder for me by doing something reckless," he said.

Anakin couldn't help but chuckle. The officer was sounding a lot like Obi-Wan.

"Sorry, but I'm afraid you're asking the wrong person."


	4. Shenanigans

"We're going home," Myrna said immediately once the shuttle was out of sight.

"Good idea. We can watch the news and tell Ahsoka if anything shows up," Neko offered. He smiled.

Myrna groaned,

"Neko, I really don't think we should get involved in this. I'm about to have a nervous breakdown as it is," she said. Her voice rose in volume and she began gesturing franticly with her hands, "Mom and Dad are going to freak out when they get back if they find out about this. _I'm _freaking out! Why aren't _you _freaking out? We have no idea if we can trust these guys or not! They're _aliens! _They invade planets! They abduct people! Oh God there's aliens out there, oh God, oh God, oh God."

"_Myrna!_" Neko yelled. His sister looked at him, "Calm down or you'll have every person within two miles running over here to see what's wrong!"

Myrna nodded quickly,

"Right, right, let's get home," she said. It was apparent she hadn't really calmed down though.

They hiked back across the ravine that separated the two hills in relative silence. When they arrived back at their home Neko rushed inside immediately to watch the news. Myrna paused outside the door for a moment, mentally yelling at herself to stop freaking out and be strong for her brother's sake. If she lost it he might start to get scared too. This was her best excuse although she knew that Neko wouldn't get scared just because she was. He wasn't like that.

She walked back into the house and sat in a chair next to their small couch. Neko had run the DVR back to watch all the news coverage that they missed. He was immediately disappointed and ran it forward to skip the stock market reports and the stories about natural disasters that had been covered for at least a week now. He stopped it when he thought he saw the word "aliens" in the headline and then ran it back again to catch what they missed. Myrna rolled his eyes when he ran it forward again to skip a commercial.

"Do you need me to do it?" she asked.

"No!" Neko said, shooting her a glare, "I can do it myself."

He finally stopped it in the right place and pressed play.

"Now we go to Toby Miller in River City with an update on the alien situation," the anchor said.

"That's where we are!" Neko said.

"Calm down, I'm sure there are plenty of River Cities in the US," Myrna said.

The screen skipped to a view of a man standing on a sidewalk a ways away from several stores and an intersection.

"Thanks Matt," he said, "Here in River City, South Dakota the residents don't see a lot of action. But recently a citizen reported strange activity along a highway going into town."

Neko looked at Myrna,

"See, told you. It _is _here."

"A figure in what the citizen called a 'weird brown cape thing' was seen walking along the tree line along the road. No pictures were taken but the citizen believes the figure to be a suspect alien. This could very well be a false alarm, but River City authorities are keeping their eyes peeled for suspicious behavior. Matt," the reporter finished.

"Alright thank you Toby," the anchor said, "And Toby will stay in River City to keep us updated if anything happens out there. And in other news a train in North Carolina-."

Neko sighed in frustration,

"That was stupid," he said.

"Here, pause it real quick," Myrna said. Neko paused it and Myrna looked at what time that particular story was running.

"Hold on, that story ran almost an hour ago. Something might've changed since then. Run it forward," she said.

"Oh yeah, duh," Neko said. He hit his own head and ran the DVR forward to the live coverage. There was nothing for a while but commercials but soon the news came back on.

"Breaking News," the anchor said, "We have a confirmed alien sighting in River City, I repeat, a confirmed alien sighting. Toby Miller is there covering the story."

The same reporter from earlier came on, this time in front of the River City Central Police Station.

"Thanks Matt. The caped figured seen walking along the highway earlier near River City, South Dakota was spotted again, this time in the downtown area. There authorities went to put the citizen's previous report of alien activity to the test. When they approached the suspect he wasn't doing anything except walking around in the shadowy areas. They asked him if they could ask him a few questions. The suspect responded saying, quote, 'I don't want any trouble. You will let me pass.' The police complied. They told NBC News, quote, 'We weren't sure what came over us, we just had this feeling that it would be ok to let him pass even though he was acting suspicious. He was pretty far down the sidewalk when we asked ourselves why we just let him go. One of us shouted for the suspect to come back, but instead he took off running.' The police proceeded to chase the mysterious figure all around down town. Another squad was involved and eventually the suspect was captured in an abandoned private parking lot behind a business. They reported, quote, 'The suspect displayed an unusual amount of agility. He was about to out run us and keep up his speed for an extended period of time. He was able to dodge any bullets we fired and was able to jump over cars, people, and an eight foot tall fence.' Currently the suspect is being held at the River City Central Police Station. The Chief of Police will be out shortly to tell us how the investigation proceeded. Back to you, Matt."

Neko looked at Myrna,

"They got him!" he said, "We need to tell Ahsoka where he is!"

He grabbed the comlink out of his pocket and picked some lint off of it before pressing the button.

"Hello? Is this thing on? Hello?" he said.

"What's up, Neko? Do you have anything?" Ahsoka asked.

"Yeah! The police captured some guy downtown! I think it's the guy you're looking for! He's at the police station!" Neko said.

"Where is that? Can you give us the coordinates?" Ahsoka asked.

"Coordinates? Um, I don't know the coordinates to anything," Neko said.

Ahsoka sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"That's great," she muttered to Rex, "Now what are we going to do? This could take hours!"

"Maybe we could call General Skywalker's comlink. He's probably still got it on him," Rex said.

"Of course! Good idea Rex," Ahsoka said. She turned back to her own comlink, "Thanks Neko. We're going to track Master Skywalker's comlink signal. Keep watching and tell us if something major happens."

She broke off the transmition and fiddled with the comlink controls. She pressed the button to signal Anakin's comlink. She wondered if Anakin would answer or if someone else would. If her master had fallen into the hands of the police chances were that if these people followed the same procedure they did then someone else would answer the call. She was right.

"Um, hello?"

Ahsoka thought about how to answer the person for a moment before taking a breath and saying in a serious voice,

"I don't know who you are, but if you know what's good for you you'll let our friend go."

Neko watched the TV screen intently as the footage went to the police chief standing outside the station. He was surrounded by several reporters and was holding two items, a comlink and a metal tube. When the comlink beeped and Ahsoka's voice came though, Neko could only grin. The police chief wiped his uncertain look off his face and answered her,

"Care to tell me who is speaking?"

"This is Ahsoka Tano, and who are you?"

"I'm Officer Kevin Black. Now why do you think I'll just let your alien friend go?"

"Because if you don't we'll just come, blast our way in, get him, and run. Do you really want that?"

"No, but we're still not letting anyone go. I can tell a false threat when I see one, even if I can't see you."

"Alright, you've got me, but even if you don't let him go, he's going to find a way out anyway."

"Unlikely."

"Give it a minute."

Just then another officer ran up behind Officer Black. He gave the reporters a cautious look before leaning over and whispering in Officer Black's ear. Officer Black's face dropped a little and then twisted into angry confusion.

"_What do you mean he escaped?_"

"I mean what I said sir. The officers guarding him just left, and then when they were found in the break room we rushed to see if the suspect was still there and he wasn't. The glass was broken although we're not sure how he managed that. When we looked in the room he was gone," the officer said.

"Seal the perimeter and find him!" Officer Black said.

Ahsoka grinned as she listened to the officer's panic on the other end of the com.

"Alright Rex, I've got the coordinates," she said. She plugged them into the shuttle's navicomputer and turned the ship around to follow them.

"This ought to be fun," she said.

_Officer Black needs to invest in better security, _Anakin thought as he crept through the halls of the police station. The station wasn't huge, but it was big enough to get a bit lost in. Anakin had been turned around several times and had to stop and clear his mind so he could find the right path. He had finally found his way past three levels of halls and doors with several officers walking around. It had taken him forever because of the constant ducking into empty rooms and running back through hallways when there wasn't a room to hide in. Now he was on the ground floor. There were a lot more officers around, but that didn't matter. He could already see the door. When there was a slight lull in traffic he dashed forward and slipped through the exit. Officer Black was talking franticly to an officer while the reporters filmed. Anakin couldn't help but grin.

"Looking for me?" he asked,

Officer Black turned around,

"As a matter of fact, yes," he said. The officer beside him reached for what looked like some sort of communication device to call for back up. Anakin reached out and used the force to toss the device aside. Then he pulled his lightsaber and comlink out of Officer Black's hand. The officers both looked surprised and perhaps a little freaked out. Anakin returned his comlink to his wrist and looked at the assembled people,

"I'll just be going now if it's alright with you."

The officer next to Officer Black pulled out a pistol and fired a shot before Anakin could do anything. He ignited his saber and swung the blade around the meet the bullet. It fell to the ground a hot warped lump.

"Got that out of your system?" Anakin asked, unfazed, "I'd appreciate it if you didn't make this any harder than it has to be."

The officer kept his gun raised but didn't fire another shot. Anakin pushed the button on his comlink,

"Do you have my coordinates, Ahsoka?" he asked.

"Way ahead of you, master," she said, "We're landing right now."

Seconds later the shuttle landed out in the street. Its wings folded up and the walkway lowered down to the ground. The reporters wheeled their cameras around to get a good shot. Ahsoka was standing at the top of the walkway,

"It's a good thing that not _all _of us have a tendency to get into trouble all the time," she said.

"Right on time, Snips," Anakin said.

"What would you do without me?" Ahsoka asked. She grinned, "Now get on so we can get out of here."

Anakin walked around the crowd of reporter and up the walkway. It closed behind him and the ship lifted up into the sky.

"Well that was interesting," Anakin said.

Ahsoka rolled her eyes,

"Master, what did you do? You can't tell me that you didn't do _anything _to aggravate them."

"Everyone on this planet is paranoid. It's not my fault," Anakin said. He shrugged, "They're the ones who started chasing and shooting at me."

"And you're sure you didn't do _anything _to set them off?" Ahsoka asked, skeptical.

"I tried to tell them I wasn't going to hurt them," Anakin said, "These people don't listen."

"So then they listen as well as you do," Ahsoka said.

Anakin gave her a look,

"Very funny, Snips."


	5. Deception

**Many apologies for my negligance. DX I attribute it to procrastination, and a lack of feedback. I don't check my e-mail so reviews are really the only way I know people like the story, so please write some! I'm glad I've got so many subscribers and I appreciate it that you guys are taking time to read this. :) Here's another chapter for you. Another one should come farily soon. Enjoy!**

When the ship touched down in the forest, it wasn't a huge surprise to Ahsoka that Neko was there waiting for them. Myrna was sitting on a rock nearby. The walkway on the shuttle lowered and Ahsoka walked out to meet them. Anakin and Rex followed behind.

"That was so cool! It was just like a movie!" Neko said, "Not a very action-y movie but still, awesome!"

"I'm guessing this is the local you told me about?" Anakin asked.

"Yep," Ahsoka said.

"My name is Neko and grumpy over there is my sister, Myrna," Neko said. He smiled.

"Nice to meet you," Anakin said.

"Can I see inside your ship?" he asked.

"Neko," Myrna sighed, though her voice held little enthusiasm.

"Just don't break anything," Rex said.

"Awesome!" Neko said. He ran up the walkway and Rex followed behind.

"So, master, what do we do now?" Ahsoka asked.

"We don't want a repeat of this, so we'll have to lay low and avoid going into town unless it's necessary," Anakin said, "We should probably contact Master Yoda as well."

Ahsoka nodded,

"Right," she said, "Reports. Fun."

They walked back into the ship behind the cockpit. Anakin took a holocommunicator out and placed it on the floor in front of him and Ahsoka. He turned it on a stepped back. The image of Master Yoda appeared.

"Greetings General Skywalker and Padawan Tano. What to report of this new planet have you?" he asked.

"We know much more about their technology now, such as their transportation and weapons," Anakin said, "They've got some kind of system similar to the HoloNet back at home and their buildings are a lot more crudely made."

The two went on telling Yoda about what things they'd seen on Earth and what the people were like. Ahsoka chimed in with more information at frequent intervals, much to her master's annoyance.

"How come by this information have you?" Yoda asked, "Encounters with the locals have you had?"

"Yes, master. We split up. I went into town and Ahsoka ran into a local boy out in the forest," Anakin said.

"Don't forget _your _run in with the locals," Ahsoka said. Before Anakin could stop her she launched into the story of how all _that _transpired, making sure to linger on the part where he got captured and she and Rex had to come get him. When she slowed down, Anakin took to opportunity to jump in.

"It wasn't my fault master, honestly," he said.

Yoda smiled,

"Believe you I do, Skywalker," he said, "The wrong impression have the locals. Unfortunate this is, but work around it we will."

"That's so cool."

Ahsoka turned towards the source of the whisper and frowned,

"Neko what are you still doing here?" she asked. She sighed, "Never mind, I'll get Dusty to take you and your sister home."

The little blonde boy emerged from the shadows, a light blush spreading across his cheeks. Yoda chuckled.

"Scold the boy do not, Ahsoka," he said, "Curiosity, natural for a child it is. Come forward, youngling."

Neko walked up to the hologram and looked at Yoda curiously. It was obvious from his expression that he was dying to ask a million questions.

"How old be you?" Yoda asked.

"Ten," Neko said, "My name is Neko."

"A local are you, yes? Curious about us are you. Many questions you have," Yoda said.

Neko nodded, amazed that this alien knew all this.

"Answers you will get, but patient you must be. Knowledge always comes to those who are willing to learn," Yoda said, "Now back to your family go. Matters to discuss we have."

Neko nodded and smiled,

"Yes sir," he said. Then he turned and ran down the hatch to the forest outside. Rex had just exited the cockpit and had overheard the exchange.

"I must say, General, I'm impressed," he said to Yoda, "That kid's been grilling me and everyone else for information since we got here."

Yoda smiled,

"Worked with children for many years I have, Captain. Be surprised should you not," he looked back at Anakin and Ahsoka, "Finished with your report are you?"

"Yes master," Anakin said, "What's General Grievous doing?"

"Sent transports to the planet's surface he has. Started has the invasion. Landing near you one will be. Find it and destroy it you must," Yoda said.

"Cue the tinnies," Ahsoka muttered.

"Can do master," Anakin said.

"Proceed with caution you must," Yoda said, "Dangerous is the game Grievous plays. Many lives at risk are. Our job to protect them it is."

"Of course master," Anakin said.

"May the force be with you," Yoda said, then the transmition was cut off.

"Well, I suppose we should get some rest if we're going to go droid hunting in the morning," Ahsoka said.

"Go make sure that our local friends get home safely. I'll call in the troops and come up with a plan for tomorrow," Anakin said.

"Got it," Ahsoka said. She exited the shuttle and went over to the rock where Neko was telling Myrna all about the inside of the shuttle. He stopped when he saw Ahsoka,

"Oh hi!" he said, "What's up?"

"Master Skywalker has instructed me to take you guys home, so let's get going," Ahsoka said.

"We can't stay a little longer? I'm wondering what a 'power converter' is," Neko said.

"Later, but I think it would be wise to get you two home before dark," Ahsoka said.

"Good luck with that," Myrna said, "The sun is already setting. It'll be dark in ten minutes."

"In that case we should probably get going _now_," Ahsoka said.

Myrna and Neko got up and the three of them headed off into the woods.

"I'll take the lead, I know the way," Myrna said.

Ahsoka gestured forward,

"Be my guest. I can't even tell the different plants apart in this forest," she said.

Myrna walked forward to take the lead. Neko remained in the back with Ahsoka.

"So if those aren't tentacles on your head what are they?" Neko asked. He reached up and poked one of Ahsoka's head tails. Ahsoka ducked away slightly.

"They're called head tails and I would prefer you not poke them," she said.

"Oh, sorry," Neko said.

They reached the gorge and slowly began climbing down the side through the brush and dirt. They reached the bottom and were at the base of the other side when they finally noticed how dark it had gotten. The sun just slipped behind the hills like a shadow and suddenly it was dark.

"Frick," Myrna muttered.

"That's great. I don't have a flashlight, do you guys?" Neko asked. Myrna shook her head and muttered something else under her breath that sounded like swearing to Ahsoka.

"Well I don't have a flashlight," Ahsoka said. She picked her lightsaber off her belt and ignited the green blade. Myrna jumped back and stared at Ahsoka wide eyed. Neko just grinned,

"Awe-some," he said.

"This will have to do," Ahsoka said, "Hold on, I've got another one." She picked her yellow shoto off her belt and ignited that one too.

"You've got two?" Neko said, "Can I hold it?"

"No chance," Ahsoka said. She looked at Myrna, "Can I trust you not to cut yourself in half?" She held the shoto out towards her and the yellow blade hummed. Myrna nodded slowly and took the hilt gingerly. She wrapped her fingers around the hilt a bit more securely and held it pointed away from her.

"Be careful, the blade doesn't have any weight so it can be easy to lose track of where it is," Ahsoka cautioned. That didn't seem to settle Myrna's mind anymore. She just nodded and turned back towards the slope to the other side of the gully. Ahsoka was thankful that this slope wasn't nearly as steep as the slope they had just come down. She didn't want Myrna to slip and cut her own arm off. They walked up the slope bathed in greenish light. The light wasn't the best but it was better than total darkness. Finally they made it to the other side and started walking through the forest towards Neko and Myrna's house. Soon they could see dim yellow lights coming out of a building not far away.

"Oh crud, we're really going to get it this time," Myrna groaned. She looked down at the lightsaber still in her hand and held it back out to Ahsoka,

"Um, here, you can have this back," she said. Ahsoka held out her hand and used the force to pull the saber out of Myrna's hand. It sheathed in midair and landed securely in Ahsoka's palm. She sheathed her other lightsaber as well and clipped them both back to her belt. Myrna looked a little stunned, but not as surprised as she would've earlier. She was getting used to all the weirdness.

"Do you think you guys can make it there ok from here?" Ahsoka asked.

"Yeah we'll be fine," Neko said, "Thanks for coming with us."

"No problem," Ahsoka said, "I'm not sure if I'll see you two later or what, but something tells me I will."

Then she turned and dashed off into the darkness of the trees.

Ahsoka sighed as she scanned the plains below them for the billionth time. She looked down at the shuttle's controls before looking out the cockpit window again.

"Master, we've been flying over this miserable grassland for hours. What makes you think we're still going to find that transport out here?" she asked.

"This is the flattest area that's close to a city, and therefore is the best place for a landing. Even droids wouldn't risk crashing in those hills back there. This is our best bet for finding that transport," Anakin said.

"Yeah but we've been flying around for _forever_ and so far we haven't seen _anything_," Ahsoka protested.

"Patience, Ahsoka. We'll find it. I've got a feeling it's around here somewhere," Anakin said.

Rex leaned forward by Anakin's seat to look out the shuttle's viewport.

"Sir, I think I see something behind those low hills over there," he said, "Looks like the top of a transport to me."

"See, Snips? I told you we'd find it," Anakin said. He turned the controls and the ship banked right towards a stretch of low hills. As they got closer it became clearer that what they were looking at was indeed the shape of a flat topped transport.

"Oh great," Ahsoka said, "How are we going to take down _that _thing? Does this ship even have any weapons?"

"Um, that would be a no, sir," Rex said.

"Blast," Ahsoka muttered, "What do we do about it then?"

"That is an excellent question," Anakin said.

"We don't even have a plan! That's just great!" Ahsoka said, flopping back in her seat, exasperated.

"I'll come up with a plan, don't worry," Anakin said, "Start the landing cycle; I'm going to set us down behind those hills."

Ahsoka sat forward again and fiddled with the controls. The craft's landing feet started to come down and the wings folded up as the ship touched down on the grassy plain.

"Alright, what are our other weapons capabilities?" Anakin asked, getting up from his chair and walking out into the ship with Rex.

"Well, the shuttle _is _stocked with two backpacks of thermal grenades and one of droid poppers," Rex said.

"Is that it?" Anakin asked, "Well that just made things a lot harder. We should probably save those. There might be more trouble. Let's go see just how many droids are out there anyway."

"I've powered down the engines, Master," Ahsoka said, coming out of the cockpit, "What's the plan?"

"Well first we need to know what the Separatists have in store for us," Anakin said, "Come on, Rex. The rest of you stay here. Keep an eye out and wait for orders."

"Yes sir," a few of the troops said. Anakin, Ahsoka, and Rex exited the shuttle and walked up the side of one of the hills. They crouched down by some brush when the transport was in sight. Rex took a pair of binoculars out and zeroed in on the hulking metal craft.

"There aren't many droids out right now. What do you think they're waiting for?" he asked.

"I'm not sure, but those droids will be easier to take out if they're all crammed in the same place," Anakin said.

"They won't stay that way for long once they spot us," Ahsoka said.

"Well, there is a way I could probably rig the engines to explode, but to do that I'd need to get into the bridge," Anakin said.

"That would take care of all the clankers at the same time," Rex said, "But how would you get up there without them seeing you?"

"If you, Ahsoka, and the rest of our men distract the droids I might be able to get up there and rig the engines before they can get too many droids out," Anakin said.

"Then how are you going to get into the bridge?" Ahsoka asked.

Anakin smiled,

"Just let me worry about that," he said, "Now go get the rest of the troops and get going."

Ahsoka and Rex nodded and hurried off down the slope towards the shuttle. It didn't take long for Rex to rally the troops and explain the situation.

"Let's scrap 'em boys!" Dusty said before leading his brothers out onto the plains. Rex and Ahsoka followed suit and the group assembled on the rise above the transport.

"Where do you suppose they all are?" Red said.

"Shut up and start shooting," Dusty said. Ahsoka ignited her saber as the clones began firing on the few droids that were there. A few of the droids fell before the others realized that if they didn't do something they'd all be scrapped. They returned the fire. A spread of blue and red lasers formed a wide strip of light across the air. Ahsoka blocked a few bolts before launching herself off the rise. She landed on the earth with a soft thud and went to work on the droids. The few that were left were in pieces within seconds.

"That can't be it," she murmured. She could already see her master scaling the huge craft to get to the bridge. He paused briefly to look down at her and the troops. He seemed to be thinking the same thing she was. She was almost relieved when the doors of the transport opened up and more droids started coming out. A few rows exited the craft before the doors closed again, offering no glimpse at to what was inside. The clones began firing again. The lasers were more spread out this time and though Ahsoka couldn't see them from her angle she figured they had probably taken cover further along the rise. She ignited her second saber and attacked the droids. It was so easy it bugged her.

_It's no fun if they don't put up a fight, _she thought.

Anakin didn't have any problems finding the bridge. He'd correctly guessed that it was right up front at the top of the first pair of wings. Getting in wasn't hard either. Cutting through the top of the transport had been a little tough but nothing he couldn't handle. Soon he was dropping into the space where a few pilot battle droids were milling around. They panicked as was expected before being slaughtered. With that annoying detail out of the way, Anakin could get to work.

He walked over to the controls and found the section that controlled the engines. He pressed a few buttons, trying to overload the systems but the Separatists were smarter than that. He then began going through the slow, methodic process of hacking. It didn't take him long to find the precise controls that, if manipulated correctly, would cause a nice explosion. With his fiddling complete, Anakin turned around and started running as fast as he possibly could. As he passed countless storage units for the droids and small hangars for other things he noticed an odd pattern. All the units were empty. There was nothing in this ship. When he got down to the main hatches that released the droids, he still didn't see anything. A few droids had just been activated and were lingering by the wide doors, but that was it. He quickly dispatched them and ran out to join his Padawan who had just finished off the last of them.

"We should probably run now," he said. They made it back behind the rise just as the transport behind them exploded in a shower of fire and metal.

"That takes care of that," Ahsoka said. She paused, "Did anyone else notice how few droids were there?"

"All the storage units were empty," Anakin said, "There probably weren't even a hundred droids in there to begin with."

"Did the Seppies really they could invade with only that many droids?" Rex asked.

Ahsoka shook her head,

"They aren't that stupid. Something's wrong here," she said.

"I think you're right," Anakin said. When they reached their ship they weren't surprised to see a light in the cockpit blinking to indicate an incoming transmition. Ahsoka pressed the button and Obi-Wan's image jumped up from the control panel.

"Anakin, Ahsoka, did you find the transport?" he asked.

"It's taken care of, Master," Ahsoka said, "What do we need to do now?"

"How many droids were there?" he asked.

"Not enough for an invasion by far," Anakin said, "The holds were entirely empty."

"Just as I suspected," Obi-Wan said, stroking his beard as he often did when he was thinking, "That transport was just a decoy. All the other team's reports have come in the same."

"A decoy?" Ahsoka asked, suddenly looking worried.

"Grievous sent out a second wave of ships not long ago. Just shuttles, mind you, but Grievous may be planning something less direct than an invasion. At least for now. Get back to the cities and keep your eyes peeled for suspicious activity."

"Yes master, we'll report if we find anything strange," Anakin said.

Obi-Wan nodded and the transmition cut off.

Neko was bored to say the least. He'd really wanted to go watched Ahsoka and Rex's ship take off again but Myrna said no, and besides, he wouldn't get to do much more than watch. It's not like they'd take him with them. So here he was, watching cartoons instead of the news for once. He laughed when one of the characters said something stupid and shoved another Oreo into his mouth.

His mom seemed to have recovered from her melt down earlier. She was not in the kitchen clearing the plates from lunch and talking to Myrna about some annoying boy at school. Neko was used to toning out Myrna's ranting. He wasn't interested unless he knew who she was talking about. Once his show was over he waited a moment and saw that a stupid show was coming up next. He turned off the TV and grabbed another Oreo from the box before getting up and going over to the back door for his shoes.

"I'm going out," he said. He didn't feel like being cooped up inside the house all day.

"Honey," his mom said, "I-,"

"I won't go far, I promise," Neko said, "I'll stay close to the house and I promise I won't be out all night like I was last night."

His mom sighed,

"Be back before six," she said, "I'll have no more of you wandering the forest after dark. "

"I'll go with him, mom," Myrna said, "He won't go anywhere if I have anything to say about it."

"Thank you, honey. Be careful," their mom said. He gave them a last hesitant glance before returning to scrubbing plates.

Neko tightened his shoelaces and ran out before Myrna could finish putting her first sneaker on. She'd learned long ago to save her sandals for outing in town where Neko wasn't involved. You never knew what you'd be doing when Neko had his way. She went out after him and followed him off into the trees.

"You are _not _going to see those aliens again!" she called after him.

"Of course not. They're probably not even there. I just wanted to see if I could spot their ship from the hill up there," Neko said. Myrna followed him without further protest. She liked the hill he was talking about anyway. It had a nice view. They reached the top and Neko ran out past the tree line and sat down on his favorite rock and scanned the sky with his eyes. Myrna sat next to him and took her phone out of her pocket to text her friend. She got about half way through her message before Neko was tugging on her sleeve and pointing at something.

"Myrna look! Look!" he said. She lifted her head and saw a dark, strangely shaped ship flying over the tree tops. It flew in wide arcs like a vulture circling.

"That doesn't look like Ahsoka and Rex's ship," he said, "Who do you think it is?"

Myrna squinted a little, examining the strange shape of the ship. It was small with a small squashed body and a tall fin on its back. Its front reminded her of car headlights. Then the ship started to turn towards them. Myrna felt a knot forming in her stomach.

"Neko," she started, unable to finish the sentence. The ship drew closer and the two kids began backing up towards the forest. The ship stopped just above the ridge, hovering. A hatch opened up and a walkway started lowering. Neko was partly fascinated and partly frightened. Then he looked up into the ship and saw several black creatures with round faces and glowing white eyes.

"We should probably run," he said,

Myrna didn't say anything. She just turned around and started running. She grabbed Neko's hand and pulled him after her. The black creatures vaulted out of the ship and began pursuing their prey. They sounded to Neko like they were made out of metal.

_Robots! _he thought, _Crap! _

He was surprised by their speed and that only made him more nervous. It didn't help when they started firing at them. Myrna screamed at what looked like a white and blue glowing ring flew past them.

_That's weird. _he thought, _Those aren't lasers. _

A few more rings flew past them. The house started to come into view. Neko's face brightened.

_We're going to make it! We're-_

The he heard a strange sort of noise that wasn't quite like a whoosh or a beep and something hit him. His eyes bugged and his legs buckled underneath him. He lost consciousness almost immediately, but he remained awake long enough to hear Myrna scream his name before the robots got her too.


	6. Innocent Bystanders

"There! On the main road!" Ahsoka said. She took one hand from the controls to point out a small group of droids slinking along the edge of the tree line.

"Commando droids," Rex said, "Now what do you suppose those are doing out here?"

"I'm not sure I want to find out," Anakin said, "Dusty, take the controls. Fly close to those droids and hold her steady."

"Yes sir," Dusty said. He slipped into the pilot's seat and took the controls.

"Ahsoka, follow me," Anakin said, "Rex, stay in the ship and shoot from the hatch."

"Right behind you, Master," Ahsoka said.

When the ship came to a stop above the droids Anakin opened up the hatch. The walkway lowered down and hung in mid air above the road. Anakin and Ahsoka went down the walkway and jumped out of the ship. They landed on the ground and began running towards the droids immediately. They ignited their sabers and deflected the droid's fire. Blue lasers erupted from the ship's hatch. The droids put up a decent fight but in the end they were no match for two Jedi and their troops.

"Those droids came from somewhere," Anakin said. He scanned the forest, looking for signs of more droids. Ahsoka looked at the sky and spotted something.

"Master, look!" she said. The dark form of a Separatist shuttle rose out of the trees and flew off.

"That must be one of the shuttles Obi-Wan saw," Anakin said.

"It's heading for town. We'd better follow it," Ahsoka said. The two Jedi turned around and raced back to their ship. They force jumped back up to the hatch and closed it behind them.

Dusty vacated the cockpit and let Anakin and Ahsoka take the controls again.

"Keep an eye on that shuttle," Anakin said, "Watch to see if it drops any more droids."

A few moments later they were over a large neighborhood. People were running down the sidewalks, pointing and shouting. Several had cameras and were snapping pictures and taking video. They seemed to recognize the small red ship from the news. Perhaps they thought they were under attack.

"They're totally oblivious aren't they?" Ahsoka said, looking down at the people below, "They don't even notice that shuttle up ahead."

Anakin looked closer and saw the hatch open up. Commando droids began to hop out and land on the street below.

"That's just great," he muttered, "Start the landing cycle."

The ship settled down in the wide road between houses and the hatch opened up. Anakin, Ahsoka, Rex and the rest of the troops poured out and began racing down the street towards the droids. They had surprised a small group of people and were chasing them down. They were shooting small bluish rings from their guns instead of the usual lasers.

"They've got stun guns," Anakin said.

"Looks like hurting the locals isn't quite what they have in mind," Ahsoka said. She lifted her head to watch as the shuttle did another circle around the neighborhood before settling down further down the street.

Stun bolts hit a few people and they fell to the ground unconscious. The droids let the rest of the locals go having collected what they needed.

"So that's what Grievous is playing at," Ahsoka growled, "He's taking hostages!"

They charged after the droids with new determination.

"Wait a second," Rex said, when they were close enough to shoot, "How are we going to stop them without hurting the locals?"

"That's an excellent question," Ahsoka muttered. She launched herself at the nearest droid. She sailed over its head and with a clean swipe she sliced its head off. The droid began to fall and Ahsoka used the force to gently push the person it was carrying away from it. She set the local down on the ground before running over to take care of the next one. Anakin had managed to get another local away from a droid and was now finishing it off. Ahsoka turned and saw that although they'd saved two people, the droids had gotten away with the rest. The shuttle was already rising into the sky. It took off and began flying back up into the atmosphere.

"Blast!" she said.

Anakin released a frustrated breath.

"We'd better tell Obi-Wan what those shuttles were up to," he looked back at Comet who was kneeling by the two locals they'd saved.

"I think they're alright sir. They're just unconscious. They should come to in a moment," he said.

"That's good," Anakin said, "Now let's get out of here. There could still be droids out there."

The group took off towards their ship. A few people ran after them.

"Hey wait!" a guy with a video camera called. Anakin and Ahsoka turned around at the bottom of the hatch.

"So that's it? You're just going to leave?" the guy asked.

"Um, yeah," Anakin said.

"Well, where are you going?" the guy asked.

"To find out what those droids were up to," Ahsoka said, "We'll get those hostages back, we promise."

"Um, ok," the guy said. He paused, "Thanks, I guess."

"Don't mention it," Ahsoka said.

"Ahsoka! Hurry up!" Anakin called from inside the ship.

"Coming, Master!" she called. She hurried up the walkway and disappeared into the ship.

When Neko woke up he almost had a panic attack. He was in a dimly lit room with metal walls. He could feel the space moving ever so slightly like he was on a boat or a plane. He could hear the soft hum of engines and the murmur of scared voices. He sat up and saw a kindly looking man crouched next to him.

"Take it easy there, kid," he said, "Don't sit up too fast."

"I'm fine," he insisted. He gave the man a curious look, "Who are you? Where are we?"

"My name's Bruce," he said, holding out his hand, "Pleasure to meet you."

"Neko," Neko said, shaking Bruce's hand.

"As to where we are I don't rightly know," Bruce said, "Last I remember was going outside to mow my lawn and then a couple of strange creatures showed up and knocked me out. I'm not quite sure where we are now."

"That's what happened to me!" Neko said, "I-I think they're called droids."

"Droids, eh? Strange," Bruce said. He stood up and stretched out his back, "How am I going to explain this to my wife?"

Then Neko had a thought,

"Where's my sister?"

"I'm guessing she's the blonde they brought in? She's fine. She'll probably be waking up any minute now," Bruce said. Neko scrambled to his feet and scanned the small room for Myrna. He saw her just as she was sitting up.

"Oh, I think I hit my head," she muttered.

Neko ran over and gave her a hug.

"Glad to see you're alright," he said.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," she said, shaking him off, "Where are we?"

"Well we got kidnapped by droids and so did a bunch of other people. We're probably in a ship," he said.

"Hey, you feel that?" a woman near the door said.

"It feels like we're descending," another person said.

True to their word, moments later the room shook a little as the ship hit the ground.

"They've landed," Bruce said, "We could be at their base now."

"Listen! Something's going on out there!" the same woman by the door said. She pressed her ear to the metal and the room fell silent. Several people ran over and pressed their ears to the door, Neko included. Outside he could hear the shuffling of the droids and under that he could hear shooting and the hum of lightsabers.

"Myrna! It's Ahsoka and Rex! It has to be! They're outside!" Neko said. He grinned.

"Who?" someone nearby asked.

Neko got even more excited when he heard footsteps outside the door. He jumped back as the door began to open. The engines began to rumble. Neko's heart sank. It was just two droids carrying two more hostages. From the way the floor moved Neko could tell that the ship was taking off. There would be no rescue today. He sighed,

"Dang it," he said.

"So now where are we going?" Myrna asked once the droids had left.

"Probably to their big ships in outer space," Neko said, "Like the ones from the news."

"Oh crap," Myrna muttered.

There were no windows, so it was nearly impossible to tell where exactly they were in relation to home. It was clear to Neko that they were ascending into the atmosphere from the way his ears popped. The room moved around quite a bit. Some movements were very smooth like an airplane, and other movements were wide and erratic. Finally the movement subsided to a soft rumbling. Then the room shook again.

"We've landed," Neko said. He got to his feet and looked at the door. There were a few antagonizing moments where nothing happened and Neko wondered if they were just going to be stuck in here. Then the doors slid open and the same black droids walked inside. The droids gathered them into a clump and ushered them out into the ship's interior. They were guided out of the shuttle and into a large hangar. Other shuttles with the same fins on top were parked there. When Neko looked behind them he could see a blue energy shield that made up the back wall, and beyond that he could see the stars and the moon. His heart leapt in his chest and he felt a little excited. He'd always wondered what space was like; he just never thought he'd see it, especially not in a situation like this.

He didn't get to take a very long look before the droids pushed them onward towards a strange looking elevator. The space was very cramped, but luckily the ride wasn't long. When the doors opened the droids herded them into a small group in the center of a very large room lit with many greenish lights. There were control panels everywhere and different models of droid with skinnier heads and bodies were manning them. Neko thought this was all very cool, but what interested him the most was the hulking figure standing not far away. At first Neko thought the figure was just a really broad shouldered man. He was very wrong.

The figure appeared to be another kind of droid. These suspicions were chased away when Neko noticed the figure's eyes were definitely organic. He took a step back and his eyes widened.

_What _is _that thing? _he thought.

"Myrna," he whispered, "Is that a droid or a living being?"

"Looks like a really extreme cyborg to me," Myrna said back.

"Welcome aboard," the cyborg rasped in a voice that wasn't quite robotic but not fully human. Neko shrank back even more.

"I'm sure you're all wondering why I've brought you here, but I have better things to do than explain everything," the cyborg continued. With that he turned around again and pressed a few buttons on the control panel behind him. A blue projection leapt up, much like the one Neko had seen Ahsoka and Anakin using to talk to that little pointy-eared creature they'd called "Master Yoda." Only this time, the projection wasn't a friendly short person, it was a man with a white beard and a long brown cloak. He had a very sophisticated air about him.

"The hostages have been brought to the ship as you requested, Count," the cyborg rasped.

"Good," the count said, "Send a message to the Republic fleet informing them that the hostages will likely be killed if they refuse to surrender,"

Neko heard a few people behind him suck in surprised and terrified breaths.

"They will more likely attack," the cyborg scoffed, "They will not surrender."

"I do not expect them to," the count said, "We just need to keep them occupied."

"Yes, my Lord," the cyborg said.

"Oh, and Grievous. I advise you to exercise restraint and not kill anyone unless I give the word. We don't want things to get unnecessarily messy," the count said before the image flickered and died. The cyborg turned to face the hostages.

"Make yourself comfortable, you will be here for a while."

"You'll never get away with this!" Neko burst out.

"Neko!" Myrna hissed, thwacking him lightly on his shoulder. He ignored her.

"Won't I?" the cyborg rasped, walking closer to the group. Everyone tried to back away but were met with a line of droids.

"N-no," Neko stammered, his courage fading as he stared up at the cyborg.

The cyborg laughed.

"And who's going to stop me?" he said, "I saw your sad excuse for a space station orbiting your miserable planet. I have my doubts about their ability to save you."

"N-not them," Neko said. His eyes flicked to the windows and he spotted the red and gray ships that must've belonged to Ahsoka and Anakin's contact. He pointed at them.

"They'll help us," he said with slightly more confidence.

"The Jedi are fools," the cyborg growled. He turned and stalked away to his place at the controls. Neko gave a soft sigh of relief. He realized he'd been bending back and straightened up.

"Don't do that again," Mryna hissed, looking as pale as the metal plates on the cyborg's body.

"I won't," Neko replied.

After a moment of ordering the droids on the bridge around, the cyborg turned to face the hostages again.

"And now we will contact your Jedi friends," he said.

Neko swallowed hard and curled his hands into fists. The way the cyborg was looking at him made him feel very uneasy. The cyborg pressed a button on the control panel and a device that reminded Neko of a webcam switched on.

"Come over here, child," he rasped at Neko. The boy's hands began to tremble and his legs refused to work. Myrna grabbed Neko's arm in her hand and held onto him. A droid swatted her away with little difficulty, however, and pushed Neko forward a few paces.

"Let's see if we can get the Jedi over here any faster," the cyborg said. Neko wasn't sure but he swore the yellow-eyed droid was laughing at him.

Despite the fact that he was standing inside one of six powerful war ships, and despite the fact that he had thousands of troops at his disposal, Obi-Wan felt rather helpless. Anakin and Ahsoka had reported that the shuttles that were spotted going down to the earth's surface had been full of droids and that they were taking hostages. They couldn't risk attacking Grievous's fleet head on with so many innocent lives at stake. No, they'd have to try something more subtle. But first things first, they needed to know what it was Grievous wanted.

"What are they playing at?" Obi-Wan murmured, though he was pretty sure he knew the answer.

"Want us to surrender they do," Yoda said, coming up behind him, "Always a bargaining tool hostages are."

Obi-Wan sighed,

"Of course. It seems taking hostages will never leave the list of Separatist battle strategies."

"Sir there's a message coming through from the enemy," a clone officer said from back in the briefing area.

Obi-Wan turned around and walked over to the large holocommunicator.

"Put it through," he said.

The clone pressed a button on the panel and an image of Grievous and a group of terrified looking people appeared. At Grievous's side was a small blonde boy. The cyborg was holding him by the back of his shirt and had a lightsaber held at his throat. The boy was wide eyed and trembling.

"Greetings, Jedi," the cyborg general growled, "You're presence on this planet has come to an end."

Obi-Wan's face hardened and he looked at the hologram with contempt. Yoda looked closely at the boy Grievous was threatening.

"Recognize that boy I do. Neko his name is. With Anakin and Ahsoka he was when they gave me their report," he said.

Obi-Wan didn't say anything, just listened as Grievous continued on.

"Unless you surrender, all of them will die," he said, "And I'm sure you don't want that."

When Grievous paused the boy, Neko, managed to get a few shaky words out.

"I-if you guys could come help us, that would be great," he said softly.

Grievous laughed at the boy and looked back at the holorecorder.

"I'll be waiting, Jedi," he growled. The message ended.

Obi-Wan looked at Yoda who seemed to be deep in thought.

"A dangerous game this is," he said, "Surrender we will not, but leave them there, we cannot."

"We can't attack as long as those people are on board Grievous's ship. I doubt I can negotiate with Grievous to let the hostages go unless we offer to surrender," he said.

"Try you must, Obi-Wan," Yoda said, "No other choice have we."

Obi-Wan nodded,

"I'll go to Grievous's ship and see if I can get the hostages out of there, negotiations or not," he said. He turned and started off towards the hanger. On the way down the halls he picked up two clones named Longshot and Streak. It never hurt to have a little back up. As they boarded a shuttle in the hangars, Obi-Wan's stomach did a little flip. He didn't exactly feel good about boarding a Separatist ship with only two clones, but it had to be done. He pushed his anxiety aside and pressed a button in the cockpit to signal Grievous. A hologram of the droid jumped up.

"General Kenobi," he rasped, "If you're trying to attack my ship with one shuttle you're more foolish than I thought."

"I'm coming to negotiate the release of the local's you're holding hostage. I do hope you haven't killed any of them yet," Obi-Wan said.

"Not yet, but that could change," Grievous said.

"Oh it won't. I'll make sure of that," Obi-Wan said before ending the transmition. The shuttle flew up to the Separatist frigate and was guided into one of the hangars by a tractor beam. When the hatch opened, Obi-Wan wasn't surprised at all that they were surrounded by droids. As soon as he and the clones were off the ramp the droids huddled around them closer. A droid took their weapons and then the formation began to move.

"This is never going to work," Longshot muttered.

"We'll be alright, Longshot," Obi-Wan said, "Just be careful and follow my lead."

"That's just great," the clone said in response.

"Shut up, Longshot," Streak said.

When they reached the bridge the droid formation dispersed to the edges of the vast room. Obi-Wan looked at the hostages briefly who were standing off to the side in a tight group. They appeared to be unharmed which was a great relief. Obi-Wan turned his head then to look at Grievous who had finally noticed their presence.

"You are a foolish one, General Kenobi," he said.

Obi-Wan paused a moment,

"It would seem," he said, "that I've walked myself right into a trap."

Obi-Wan had already formed a loose plan in his head when Grievous said,

"I know you will not surrender, so in that case this is not something up for discussion."

"I suppose I should've stayed on my ship then," Obi-Wan said.

Grievous laughed,

"Take them to the detention level and make sure they do not escape."

Obi-Wan resisted the urge to smile. That was exactly what he predicted Grievous would do. He wouldn't kill them yet. That might just buy them some time to escape.

"General Kenobi has come to try and negotiate the release of the prisoners," Grievous said, looking up at the hologram of Count Dooku, "He's on the ship right now."

"Perfect," Dooku said, "Send a shuttle of commando droids to the Republic's fleet. Launch the transports while they're distracted."

"Yes, Count," Grievous said. He ended the transmition and turned to the commando droids near the entrance to the bridge.

"Take the Jedi's shuttle in the hangar and infiltrate their cruiser," he rasped.

"Roger roger," the droids responded. They turned around and filed out of the bridge to carry out their mission.


	7. An ApologyAnnouncement From the Author

Oh man. My sincerest apologies to everyone who has been reading and liking this story. I really and sorry. Very, very sorry. I'm a terrible person. I know. Expect many more apologies.

So basically this is an announcement. I'm going to be rewriting this thing because I think the motivations and plot points are weak. And I've got new episodes of Clone Wars to watch to keep my inspired. I'm going to be keeping some characters, reworking others, changing events, etc. but the basic idea will remain the same, only improved. I beg you to be patient with me as I get this new story up and running. I'll probably just start a completely new story so some people can go back and look at the old chapters if they would like.

So, yeah. That's pretty much it. Again, I'm really really really sorry, but hopefully I'll be able to deliver a more high quality story.

Thank you for your patience! And if you don't have any, thanks for reading anyway. :)

-The Queen of Nerds


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